Happy Birthday Dr. Pepper!

Happy 117th birthday for Dr. Pepper!

Today is the birthday of the original Dr. Pepper factory in Dublin, Texas. Dublin is also known officially as "Dr Pepper" for one week each June during their annual birthday celebration. The factory was established as a Dr. Pepper bottling plant in 1891, just six years after the drink's invention in nearby Waco. The factory is also unique as it creates its Dr. Pepper using Imperial Pure Cane Sugar, the original Dr. Pepper formula.

Let us go back to Waco, Texas in 1885. Wade Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store was a prominent business and popular meeting place. One of their employees, pharmacist Charles Alderton, wanted to invent a drink that tasted the wonderful way the soda fountain smelled. After much experimentation he finally felt he had hit on something different and it quickly became extremely popular. .” Patrons at the drug store agreed. Morrison named this new drink "Dr Pepper" after the father of a girl he had loved back in his home state of Virginia.

In 1891, Morrison and Robert Lazenby organized the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company in order to bottle and sell Dr. Pepper and other soft drinks. A Texas businessman, Sam Houston Prim, also enjoyed Dr. Pepper and wanted to sell it in his bottling plant in Dublin, 80 miles to the west of Waco.

Dr. Pepper is currently one of the top 3 soft drinks in the U.S. and the No. 1 non-cola.

I am a big fan of Dr. Pepper and always have been. I enjoy its unique taste, that melange of flavors that mesh into an intriguing whole. Though it does seem to be a polarizing soda. You seem to either love it or hate it. There seems to be little middleground.

I plan on raising a glas of Dr. Pepper to celebrate the anniversary!

How about you? Are you a fan of Dr. Pepper?